Industry luminaries Will Wright, Warren Spector, and Raph Koster present their love story game designs based around falling for a virtual character, a Regency romance novel, and a first person kisser, in this free video lecture courtesy of the GDC Vault.
Hosted by Eric Zimmerman, these developers attempt to win the vote of the audience with their designs for the experimental Game Design Challenge at GDC 2004. First up, Raph Koster imagines a multiplayer Regency romance novel experience, where the engine takes players and assigns character flaws. These flaws build into character arcs, and the arcs become set pieces that are played through.
Next, Will Wright envisions a romantic game played in real time with players using their real identities. His solution: a peer-to peer, first-person kisser that takes place as a game inside a game (in his example, Battlefield 1942.)
Finally, Warren Spector does not propose a specific game, but he addresses several design concerns when making a game about falling in love. He suggests making players fall for a virtual character would be more challenging than a real one. For such games to exist and thrive, he says games have to expand to include better characters that experience and express emotions more clearly and that simulate conversations more realistically.
The free video that crowns one of these designers as the winner is available here.
Video: Famous designers attempt to make a game about falling in love
Freed from any commercial restraints, well-known game designers Will Wright (SimCity), Warren Spector (Deus Ex) and Raph Koster (Ultima Online) pitch their love game concepts in front of a live audience.